excerpt from George Jean Nathan and H. L. Mencken’s "The American Credo: A Contribution Toward the Interpretation of the National Mind" 1920

“There is no American who cannot hope to lift himself another notch or two, if he is good; there is absolutely no hard and fast impediment to his progress. But neither is there any American who doesn’t have to keep on fighting for whatever position he has; no wall of caste is there to protect him if he slips.”